Monsters
by Cormag Ravenstaff
Summary: Who were the monsters? Those they killed, or those who killed? Oneshot.


**And I emerge from my writing haitus with the announcement of Fire Emblem: Three Houses which looks fucking phenomenal. Literally everything I've wanted in a FE game.**

 **Except now I have to wait like ten years for it so I'm screaming because I wanted to write all my ideas for it but now I have to wait and postpone them so here's a oneshot sorta based on the idea for what was supposed to be my first ever fanfic but I realized it sucked so I didn't write it. And now I guess I want to write it again? Welp, we'll see how this goes.**

* * *

 **Monsters**

Her sword found purchase on the neck of a Daein soldier. Silver cleaved through tissue as she stepped out of the way of the blood without a second thought. The body crumpled to the ground, lifeless as the motivation the soldiers had. Red melted white as it covered the snow.

Mia swung her blade to block a strike from an axe. These foes hardly taxed her. Their training was subpar, their will nonexistent and their entire aura broken. What might Daein had three years ago was gone, forgotten.

The man with the axe lay dead, another body Mia put behind her. He vanished from her mind as a sword lashed out. Mia ducked her head back, letting the blade pass her chin unharmed. Her opponent swung his blade again, ferociously.

A small smile curled on Mia's face. Someone who could challenge her.

Her Wo Dao caught his blade, deflecting it. Mia took a low stance and waited. The young man charged her, twisting his strike in an upward arc at the last moment.

Like a viper, Mia met his attack, knocking it aside with ease. Her own assault followed, slashes and strikes coming from every direction. All aimed at the man, aiming to measure his skill.

His steel blade blocked the first hit, but he wasn't quick enough to negate the next. A strike landed a thin cut on his arm, the next on his leg.

Mia blinked and the man lay dead, riddled with the injuries of her probing strikes. His sword fell from his hand. An ordinary thing, much like he had been.

She felt a vile taste rise in her mouth, but she swallowed it. More soldiers marched through the snow to her.

Spitting out her frustration in the form of a sigh, Mia twirled her blade and took a stance.

* * *

"I don't get it," Mia groaned, wreathed in the mantle that was Ike's cape. She sat inside his tent, one of the warmest places in the tundra that was Daein in the winter.

"Hmm?" Ike looked at her as he entered the tent, fresh off his evening duties as general. His eyes passed over the cape on her shoulders, unfazed. It was nothing out of the ordinary, really.

She climbed up on the bed from her spot next to it. Ike went about removing his armor, still carrying the blood from the day. "Why do they fight? They're outclassed and haven't won a battle against us in ages. Yet they persist, even with the morale of dead men. I don't get it," she repeated.

Ike nodded, finally taking the last of his armor off. Pulling a basin out from a corner of the tent, he set to work cleaning the blood off. "I don't either. They're stronger and weaker than I remember."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, think back to the Mad King's War. Ashnard had some of the best generals and military prowess that we've seen in the history of Tellius. Daein now…utterly lacks that. The times they've had victories have been through the motivation of that Silver Haired Maiden, not necessarily through tactical brilliance."

"And how are they stronger?"

Ike frowned. "They fight like desperate men, like their lives are on the line. You don't see it unless you look closely, particularly in the foot-soldiers. But if you pay attention to the higher-ups, you'll see it. Desperation makes a person dangerous."

"You've put a lot of thought into this," Mia observed.

"It's my job now," Ike said through an annoyed sigh. He set aside his pauldron, clean of Daein dead.

Mia hopped off his bed and walked over to him. Sitting down across from him, she offered a cheery smile. "I think you're doing a great job!"

Ike chuckled. "I appreciate that, but I'm just a figurehead. Soren deserves the credit as far as I'm concerned. The soldiers like me, but it is his strategies that win us the day."

Mia idly poked a finger in the basin of dirty water. "I dunno, I think it's important for the people who follow you to like you. That's why I stayed on with the Greil Mercenaries, after all. I liked you all."

"Me most of all though, right?" Ike said, the faintest of grins on his face.

She leaned over the bowl and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Sure, you can think that." A playful wink followed.

Ike laughed. "What brought this topic up, though? See someone strong on the battlefield today?"

"On the contrary, no. I thought I did…but I was wrong. It made me think of how many people I've killed. And not just in this war alone." Mia shuddered unconsciously.

She felt his eyes on her, her gaze turned down looking at the leather Ike tried to work a stain out of. His hands had paused, frozen mid-scrub. "I…" she searched for the word, trying to articulate her thoughts. "Am I a monster?"

His hands set down what he held as he moved across to the other side of the basin. An arm wrapped around her over Ike's cape. It was comforting, familiar.

"No monster would have done the things you did. The Mia I know has killed people trying to do wrong. These Daein soldiers? They're trying to save Begnion's ass. We can't let them destroy everything we're working for." His words made sense to her, but she doubted.

"You said it yourself, they're desperate. What if they don't want to be doing this? What if we've been killing the wrong people this whole time?"

Ike hand, which had been rubbing her shoulder, stopped. Mia waited for him to gather his thoughts.

"Then we're monsters," he whispered quietly.

"What?" Mia said in disbelief.

"If we've been fighting for the wrong reasons, if we've been killing these people for the wrong ideals, we're the monsters." Ike seemed surprised by his own words, no less resolute than usual. "We ought to sue for peace but…"

"They'll never accept it," finished Mia.

Ike nodded. "The only way I know how to convince them is to keep fighting. Keep fighting until they give up and are willing to negotiate."

"Elincia won't be happy to hear that." Mia chuckled. She drew herself closer to Ike.

He tightened his arm around her. "Let's not tell her. She'd never sit idly while I called myself a monster," Ike said.

"Ike…can I sit the next battle out? Just the next, I just want time to think."

He nodded. "Yeah. Soren might fuss, but I can talk him down."

"Thank you."

Later that night, the two curled up in Ike's bed with each other, tangled up with one another. His steady breath calmed her, but all she saw was the young man collapsing, sword falling from his hands.

She couldn't remember his face. It had been too quick.

When had she gotten like this, forgetting a person she killed that day?

Tears trickled from her eyes. Mia buried her face in the sheets, hoping to block out the world.

She failed.

* * *

 **Author Notes: I guess I should say that this fic is heavily modified from that original idea. Like it was supposed to be a huge chaptered story with OCs and a ton of shit. Honestly, I scarcely remember the details, just the desire to write a dynamic for Ike and Mia and this setting.**

 **But anywho, review if you have the time. And if you want to talk about Three Houses, hit me the fuck up. I NEED to talk about that game with people, it looks so fucking good. Worth the wait.**

 **Also, got a setting or theme you'd like to see me write? Let me know in a review and I may write it!**


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